


We All Have Secrets

by passionfruitmermaid



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: idk how to tag, im sure im missing a lot, sibling dynamics, things may change as i write more, wildly infrequent updates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:54:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28236510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/passionfruitmermaid/pseuds/passionfruitmermaid
Summary: They’re new spirits, she can tell.  But then again she can always tell those kinds of things.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms)/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 9





	We All Have Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> I have no plan. Absolutely no clue where this is going or what happens next but so, so many ideas. I've never shared my writing before so please lmk what you think!

A week after the Orpheum concert Reggie is walking with Alex on the beach. It's their thing now. Reg has always loved the beach and Alex walks when he needs time to think. Two birds, one stone. Reggie bounds through the sand, dancing a little to a song in his head as they continue on. He keeps glancing back to smile at Alex, who has barely smiled at all in the last week. Reggie sighs, clearly it's going to take a lot more than the typical antics to get Alex back to the present. 

“Look man,” he stops to wait for Alex to catch up. “It’ll all work out I promise.” 

Alex doesn’t look up from his feet shuffling in the sand but he responds “You don’t know that Reg. We don’t know anything anymore. We don’t know why Julie can touch us now, we don’t know if other lifers can see us. We still don’t know why she could see us in the first place. What about Caleb? What if he knows we’re still here? And... ” he swallows, somehow looking even more forlorn “what about Willie? I haven’t seen him anywhere Reggie, not in any of his usual spots. 

“Hey!” Reggie all but shouts grabbing him by the shoulders. 

Alex finally looks up. 

“I don’t know how I know but I do. Plus, I can answer one of those questions right now!” He  
points to a surfer sitting on the beach. 

“Wha— ” Before he can finish Reggie is marching towards a girl about their age, lounging on the beach. Beside her in the sand lies a pale green surfboard with two white stripes down the middle. Reggie comes to a stop behind her, pointing excitedly and grinning at Alex, who just rolls his eyes and stands a few feet to the side. Reggie walks around to her front. 

“Hi! I’m Reggie! Sick board. I bet you look pretty cute on it. *wink*.  
“I like to think I do.” The surfer says, meeting his eyes. 

Reggie yelps and grabs for Alex, shaking him violently. Under any other circumstances Alex would be annoyed, but he’s a little too shocked to do anything but gape at the moment.

“Oh my god lifers can see us!” 

The girl just laughs brightly and gets to her feet. 

“No no” she says with a kind smile, “I’m a ghost too. I’m Leah.” She holds her hand out for a  
shake. Alex reacts first, stepping forward and grasping her hand.

“Alex.” He nudges Reggie who hastily reaches out and grabs her hand next. 

“Reggie.” He looks embarrassed. “Sorry for what I said, I didn’t think you could hear me.” 

Leah laughs again and Reggie can’t help but notice how the corner of her eyes crinkle adorably when she does. “Don’t worry about it, it's very flattering. So you come here to flirt  
with lifers or…”

“Um no actually we’re here trying to cheer this guy up.” He jerks a thumb at Alex who sighs a bit dramatically.

“I’m going back to the studio.” He turns to Leah with a small wave “It was nice meeting you.” Then he’s gone.

She turns her full attention to Reggie. “He’s a bit of a downer huh?”

“Nah he's just having a hard time right now.” Reggie replies. 

Then he promptly sits down next to her and begins to tell the whole story. He’s probably oversharing and maybe he shouldn’t give all the details of their afterlife to a stranger, but her calm and intent focus on his words make him want to tell her everything. Leah is quiet for a minute after he finishes his anecdote, and for a brief moment Reggie wonders if he made a mistake in trusting her. The look she gives him melts all his worries away. It's soft and kind, filled with understanding as if the same thing happened to her once. 

“That must have been tough Reggie, I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks” he breathes out. Her bright eyes shine with light from the setting sun and are a little distracting. 

“What a way to begin your afterlife huh?”  
Reggie laughs at that. “It really was!”

Suddenly he realizes she knows everything about his afterlife but he knows nothing about hers. 

“So,” he clears his throat “how long have you been a ghost?”

“Almost 100 years.” She moves to lean back on her hands but continues to look at him, gauging his reaction. 

“A hund-” play it cool Reggie, “wow, um, so you must have died in the 20’s then.”

She grins and wiggles her fingers in the air. “Jazz age baby.” 

“Haven’t you been bored? I mean I’m bored on most days and we’ve only been dead for a couple weeks!” 

There’s that smile again, the dimple on her cheek, corner of her eyes crinkling. 

“There have been times where I was really bored, but that's one of the best things about being a ghost. Anytime I felt stuck I’d poof off to someplace new and spend time there.”

“Like where?”

“Well, I spent a summer in Spain, a spring in France, two years in Italy, a year in Australia, a few brief trips to Thailand . Sometimes I take off for the week just to go surf a new wave or watch a comp.” Her happy smile turns more nostalgic. 

“When my brother was around we would go together.” She laughs. Once when we were traveling in Britain, he set every clock in Buckingham Palace back five minutes just to be mildly annoying. I made him change them all back before we left though. ” 

“What happened to him?” 

“I don't know. He just vanished one day, I haven’t seen him in years.”

Reggie could only nod empathetically, unsure of what he was supposed to say. He didn’t know what he would do if Luke or Alex just disappeared one day. The new friends turned their attention to the sun sliding under the horizon. It was significantly lower than it had been when they sat down, but Reggie had no clue how long they’d been talking. Leah made time pass in the blink of an eye. 

Reggie sighed disappointedly, standing to brush sand off his jeans. “I should probably get back to the studio.” 

Leah stands as well. “Maybe we can do this again.” 

“Tomorrow?” Reggie knows he sounds too hopeful but he doesn’t care.

She offers a smile that seems to light up her whole face. “You see that lifeguard tower?” she asks, pointing to a light blue structure a little further down the beach. “Knock on the door.”

“Okay.” He responds. By the time he turns around she's gone.


End file.
